The Islands look to be barren and volcanic, which could be a good thing, and you're used to it after all the BM experience! If there are no large rocks there are large waves- Cape Verde is renowned for it's surfing. Good luck.

My hubby and I are going into th Peace Corps and we're being sent to Cape Verde, Africa. I know they've got good SCUBA diving...has anyone heard of this place and knows if there is any climbing?

I visited Cape Verde several years ago and traveled around several of the islands. Some, like Sal, are flat and barren and you won't find any climbing there. But others like Santiago, Sao Antao, Fogo and Sao Vicente are extremely rugged and mountainous. Fogo is an active volcano and one can hike to the summit (about 10000ft). The others are essentially remnants of volcanoes and the rock is some sort of crumbly basalt. It is pretty loose, so much so, that after it has rained (a rare occurrence in Cape Verde) one is advised to stay away from steep cliffs until the loosest rock has fallen. I did see a few bolted routes in some of the more solid basalt on the path from Ponta do Sol to Cruzinha in Santo Antao. This path, which is the only direct route between these two towns, is high on a cliff above the sea and I doubt that the bolts would be all that trustworthy. Given some time and hardware, you may be able to find some more solid rock and pioneer a few routes but I did not get the sense of much climbing potential; there's lots of exposed rock but it looked too unstable.

The hiking, especially on Sao Antao is fantastic. The scenery is out-of-this world and the precipitous places where villages, paths and terraced fields have been located have to be seen to be believed.

It's a pleasant country to visit, with a relaxed, safe, laidback, backwater feel.

Lastly, you are probably aware that Cape Verde is extremely dry. Some of the islands get a small amount of regular precipitation but others have gone for up to a decade without ANY precipitation at all. There is almost nothing growing in some of these places. By comparison the Sonoran desert of Arizona is a jungle. The higher elevations of Santo Antao do get some rain and parts of this are forested and quite verdant.